Praise from head coach.

On Friday night, when the Bucs beat the Jets in their first worthless preseason game, it was the first time we all got a chance to watch some players under the lights, hitting another team.

First time we saw Ted Hurst, Josiah Trotter, Jalon Daniels and others.

But it was also the first time Zac Robinson was on the Bucs’ sidelines. And just by the winning score, you’d think the new Bucs offensive coordinator did OK. It’s not like he’s a rookie playcaller.

Yesterday, KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles was asked for his feedback on Robinson’s first game with Tampa Bay. In short, Bowles thought Robinson was just the same as he has shown in underwear football season and training camp.

“I don’t think I learned too much,” Bowles said. “I mean, it’s been pretty clean like that since practice, since we started in OTAs and mini camp.

“It carried over to training camp, and there was more of that on the sideline [Friday night]. Thought the communication was great. The understanding of the guys were great, so you know, I thought it went well.”

If nothing else, Robinson showed he can adjust in a tight spot when needed.

With just over three minutes left, following a timeout, Daniels ran right just to the right of his blockers on 2nd-and-1 from the Jets-1 for the winning touchdown.

Daniels said after the game the touchdown run was not on the game script; Robinson went off-script.

Joe gives Robinson kudos for this. With a free agent rookie quarterback, Robinson easily could have stuck with the scripted plays, not wanting to confuse Daniels. Instead, Robinson chose something, while unexpected, he and Daniels had a level of comfort in using.

That showed Joe Robinson isn’t chained to a callsheet. He’s willing to think outside the box, even in crunch time.